All right, let's do this thing! Just so you know, EmmerzK is the chief creative director of this fic. As it turns out, I'm better at organization than she is so I ended up doing a lot of the busywork concerning what goes where (and it's looking like I'll be doing a vast majority of the writing) but almost all of the ideas in this story are hers and this is the one she's looked forward to writing for a very long time. So without further ado, we present Growing Pains!

To CBL
"I'm not giving up on you. You don't understand this yet, but people need you."
~Big Hero 6

And to everyone going through a rough time: you can get through it. As I've always said, almost all stories have a happy ending. Keep pressing on and you'll find yours too.

Chapter One: Hushed Voices

This is Berk.

We may be small, but we are strong. And I'm not just talking about the dragons we adopt into our families. We have a full armory all ready to retaliate if we get attacked. We have hundreds of men and women trained in combat just in case something happens.

But strength is about more than brute force. Strength isn't always something you can see on the outside. The strongest man in the world can appear to be small and clumsy. And the weakest can have bulging muscles. Our strength comes from within. It comes from those we love and our willingness to stand for what's right.

Unfortunately, a lot of people seem to forget that fact. And it's up to all of us to remind them of what it means to be strong. Even if they don't want to hear it.

CLANG!

Fearless Finn Haddock jumped back instinctively as sparks flew from the sword he was fixing. He peered intensely at the weapon in his hand, trying to figure out if he was finished getting it in the right shape or if he needed to pound it some more. He was getting better at making that distinction but the smoke and the heat from the fire was making him feel a tad lightheaded. Shaking his head in an attempt to clear it, he peered at the red hot metal until its light started to put a giant blue splotch in the middle of his line of vision.

Anyone else in Finn's position would have taken a well deserved rest. But not him. The boy had been up since dawn and he hadn't set foot outside the forge except to use the outhouse. And whenever he did that, he had to squint to block out the exceptionally bright rays beating down on him from the hot sun. And then it was back to work, his body dripping with sweat, his hands covered in bandages to protect them from the many dangerous tools he worked with day in and day out, his undershirt sticking to his skin almost like it was glued there.

And Finn simply loved it. He loved the loud sounds of the crackling fire, bubbling water and metal, clanging of the tools... honestly, if his parents didn't make him take weekends off, he'd be here every single day.

"Well I see you're in the zone. Again." came a voice from across the room. "Don't come over here, I'll carry these ridiculously heavy boxes all by myself."

Finn, used to his mentor's sarcasm, hastened over to help lighten the load. Gobber smiled appreciatively at him.

"You're all right, Fearless Finn." he said cheerfully, ruffling the boy's hair and then making a face at the sheer amount of sweat dripping off his fingers.

Finn grinned impishly at his mentor's look of disgust. "Don't worry, I bet it's good for your skin."

"Don't sass me." Gobber retorted, looking rather amused. "Like father, like son."

"Not really." Finn said hastily. "I'm much better at this than he ever was."

"Ahh you've got the muscles for it." Gobber patted Finn's shoulder. "But you could do with a bit more ingenuity. Now why don't you take a break?"

"A break?" Finn acted as if this comment had offended him. "You're crazy. I just got started!"

"It's two in the afternoon!" Gobber narrowed his eyes at his apprentice.

"Yeeees." Finn stretched out the word, his grin widening.

"So eat lunch." Gobber insisted. "Or I won't let you come in tomorrow."

Finn grumbled but obeyed, grabbing his bag of food and walking across the room with it.

"Ah ah! Outside!"

"What's wrong with in here?"

"You stink."

"That doesn't stop you."

Gobber gave his apprentice a look that wasn't quite dangerous yet but Finn knew it would be soon. He quickly scrambled to his feet and exited the forge.

It felt like he had stepped into Asgard itself. The sun's rays seemed to blind him. Summer was definitely descending upon Berk and Finn didn't like it one bit. Aside from his birthday, he hated everything about summer. He hated hail for obvious reasons, the heat for making the forge even hotter, and the sun for scorching his skin, making his freckles far more pronounced, and his making his hair so brightly red that he could be easily spotted even from hundreds of feet above the village. But, he had to admit, being able to leave the forge in nothing but an undershirt and shorts was rather convenient.

"Well look who decided to emerge!" a cheerful voice rang from across the village square.

Finn looked over, his face twisting into a satisfied smile as he watched his girlfriend hurry over, her short blonde hair bobbing behind her head.

"I'm here under protest." Finn explained, a mischievous glint in his eye. "But I have to say, coming outside was worth it for the attractive atmosphere." he gazed up and down Helga Ingerman's figure almost hungrily.

"I'd say the same but you look like you just dove into the lake." Helga made a face. "And you smell like my brother's used socks."

"Ahh good, I was hoping you'd notice my change in cologne." Finn quipped. "All part of what makes me so sexy."

"You disgust me." Helga giggled, taking a step back when Finn leaned toward her for a kiss.

"I can live with that." Finn narrowed his eyes. "Well if you won't kiss me, give me a hug."

"No!"

"How dare you reject the advances of a future chief!" Finn puffed his chest out. "You are not fit to be a
Hooligan."

"So make me leave." Helga crossed her arms and stared into his eyes unblinkingly.

"Make me make you."

"Make me make you make me."

"You know what?" Finn mock sighed. "I'm feeling generous today. But next time I see you, I'm getting that kiss."

"Bathe and I might enjoy it." Helga winked at him. "Put on cologne and it could be... international."

"You know I always like to experiment with other cultures." Finn tittered as his girlfriend walked away, his eyes fixed on her swaying posterior as she went.

The Haddock boy eventually decided that he wanted to eat his lunch in the cove today. He strutted into the village square, his head held high and a smirk on his face. Several children scurried to get out of his way as he approached. He wouldn't have stepped aside even if they hadn't.

When he reached the edge of the square, he turned to look at the people he had just passed. A few children met his eye and immediately looked away, two of them actually trembling as they gathered their toys and made a break for it. Finn felt a rush of satisfaction.

Perhaps eating lunch outside had been a good idea after all.

Adrianna Miracle Haddock was more impatient than she'd ever been in her entire life.

Her fingernails were chewed until they couldn't be chewed anymore. Her bright green eyes glanced upward at the slightest movement. Her long blonde hair flipped around when she turned on her heel to continue her pacing. She made small groaning noises almost every time she looked in the sky and saw nothing on the horizon.

"Adrianna, maybe you should sit down." Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, who was starting to feel rather dizzy as he watched his daughter's constant movements, gestured to the empty space next to him on a nearby bench.

"No." Adrianna replied shortly. "I'll can't stay still."

"He'll be coming whether you're nervous or not." Astrid Hofferson Haddock reminded her with a small smile. "And besides, you've gone to visit him every other weekend for the last year. Is this really so different?"

"Of course!" Adrianna began to bounce on her toes as she continued to gaze into the sky. "He never comes to Berk! What if he doesn't like it?"

"Doesn't like Berk?" Hiccup laughed, shaking his head. "Berk will seem like paradise compared to where he's coming from."

"You don't know that!" Adrianna said in an increasingly panicky tone. "You've only met him twice!"

"Yes but he's made his opinion of Allie the Insincere rather obvious." Hiccup replied calmly. "And we've gotten along swimmingly."

"I know, but he's still- oh my gods!" Adrianna squealed and put her hands over her mouth. "I think that's him!"

Hiccup and Astrid looked up to see a red speck on the horizon that was slowly approaching the island. Adrianna ran her fingers through her hair, adjusted her headband, and smoothed out her shirt and trousers. She folded her fingers in front of her chest and forced herself to stay still as she endured every agonizing second of the Changewing's descent. It didn't take long for its rider to come into view. The teenage boy was tall with tanned skin and brown hair. While not muscular per se, he did appear to have strong arms and legs judging by his grip on his dragon's reigns. His posture was casual and the smile on his face indicated that he was every bit as happy to be there as the Haddock girl was to see him. The moment he landed, he ran up and threw his arms around her.

"Nani!" he exclaimed as he nearly crushed her in his arms. "Gods, it's good to see a pretty face again."

Adrianna blushed scarlet and bit her lip bashfully. "Likewise." she said in a timid voice. The boy raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, not pretty! I mean not that you're not good looking but I more or less meant to say han-" she stopped when he placed his pointer finger on her lips.

"I know what you meant." the teenager said playfully.

"It's nice to see you again, Brandyn." Hiccup walked up and held out his hand, which Brandyn enthusiastically shook. "All packed up, I see." he added, nodding to the bags tied to the Changewing.

"You know it!" Brandyn laughed and sauntered over to his dragon. "Had to get off that sorry excuse for a territory as soon as possible!"

"I don't blame you." Hiccup walked over with him, his giddy daughter excitedly following. "Welcome to Berk!"

"Thanks!" Brandyn patted his dragon on the head. "It's all right, Syd," he said in a soothing voice, "you'll be able to lie down in a second. Hey," he turned back to Hiccup, "I don't mean to speed things up but my dragon buddy needs a drink of water and a nap. Do you have a pen or something?"

"I can do you one better." Hiccup gestured for the teenager to follow him. "We've got your house all ready. The pen is pretty standard but there's room for you to play around with it some."

"Sweet!" Brandyn exclaimed. "Lead on!"

"You're going to love it here!" Adrianna skipped merrily along beside him, causing him to chuckle. "Lots of dragon stuff going on and sports and books and it looks really pretty in the winter with all the snow."

"Bet it'll pale in comparison to some of the prettier attractions on the island." Brandyn winked at her and she giggled.

"Ah ah, no starting that up again!" Hiccup warned the boy, who merely huffed a bit.

"Aww but chief!" Brandyn whined. "It's not my fault your daughter's so cute!"

"He's got a point." Astrid said, nudging her husband. "She does have your face."

"Very funny." Hiccup deadpanned. "But keep it clean, you two, or Brandyn's going right back where he came from."

"You don't have to worry about that." Brandyn clapped Hiccup on the back. "Your girl's off limits until further notice, I know."

"Good you remember." Hiccup narrowed his eyes at the boy, who only smiled wider. "But I mean it."

"Of course you do." Brandyn smiled cheekily at the Haddock girl. "There'll be no funny business. We're just friends, right Nani?"

"Oh... yes." Adrianna pointed to a small house. "There it is."

"Ooh, I get a garden and everything!" Brandyn clapped Hiccup on the back again. "Clearly you've pulled out all the stops."

"It used to be a guest house but it needed a bit of fixing up so we thought you'd like a project." Hiccup told him as he opened the wooden door.

There were only three rooms in the house. The main one had a fire pit and places to put cooking ingredients and supplies. A small couch was placed against the wall. The doors to Brandyn's washroom and bedroom were on a wall to the left.

"Home sweet home!" Brandyn exclaimed excitedly. "What do you think, Syd?" he turned to his dragon, who cooed contentedly. "Looks like we're all set."

"Great! We'll leave you to your unpacking. I've got a village meeting I've got to prepare." Hiccup patted Brandyn on the back before turning toward the door.

"Hang on, there's a meeting?" Brandyn raised an eyebrow. "What sort of meeting?"

"Ahh, well..." Hiccup scratched his chin idly. "Honestly, this place is usually pretty peaceful but there have been some.. incidents."

"Such as..."

"You don't need to worry about that right this second. I imagine Adrianna'll fill you in after the meeting." Hiccup opened the door.

"Hang on, if this meeting is for the residents of Berk, I want to go." Brandyn hurried over to the doorway. "I live here now. Might as well, you know."

"That's really nice of you, Brandyn, but I imagine you've got a lot of unpacking to do." Astrid spoke up. "Besides, these meetings tend to run long. Our chief is a real rambler."

Hiccup narrowed his eyes at his wife, who merely grinned mischievously at him. "Well..." he turned back to Brandyn, "if you're sure you want to go..."

"Absotively." Brandyn nodded vigorously. "I can unpack any time. But a big important meeting? Can't miss out on that!"

"Okay well it'll start in about half an hour. Adrianna, you can show him where the Great Hall is. If you need anything, just holler." Hiccup nodded to his daughter and her friend before leaving the house, his wife at his heels.

"I'm really proud of you." Astrid said the second they were outside.

"Proud?"

"You handled a guy flirting with our daughter extremely well." she put an arm around him as they walked toward the Hall. "I'm glad you're letting her grow up."

"More like I trust her not to do anything stupid." Hiccup said shortly. "She's a smart girl."

"Yeah, she is." Astrid slid her hand down and slipped her fingers between his. "And you two will be best friends again."

"Do we have to talk about this now?" Hiccup tightened his hold on her hand. "I've got a lot of work to do. And even if I didn't, these always end up being circular conversations that never solve anything."

Astrid reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "I know. But they're still conversations worth having."

"Doesn't make it hurt less." Hiccup mumbled.

"So I think you should start off the meeting with the farming stuff." Astrid said briskly. "Don't want to go into all the heavy stuff right away."

"Right." Hiccup cracked a smile at his wife's abrupt subject change. She could always tell when he needed to focus on something else. And this was definitely the time to put his mind on other matters, even for a short period of time.

"Woah," Adrianna's eyes widened as she stared into a small box she'd retrieved from one of Brandyn's bags. "That's a lot of rocks."

"Hm?" Brandyn sauntered over and peered at the box. "Oh yeah. Don't laugh but I like to collect them. Anything that looks interesting. Like that one," he pointed to one on the side, "it's almost the exact shape of a Gronckle, don't you think?"

"Yeah, it is." Adrianna picked up the rock to inspect it. "Weird."

"Yeah, they're cool." Brandyn took the book out of her hands. "But don't tell anyone I'm that much of a dork."

Adrianna rolled her eyes. "You're not a dork."

"Says you." Brandyn placed the box on a shelf before turning back to the Haddock girl. "So tell me a bit more about Berk. Anyone here I need to look out for?"

"Finn." Adrianna replied shortly. "And anyone he hangs out with."

"Yeah, I kind of figured." Brandyn sat down next to her. "Hey, what about Morgan and Taryn and all them? Do I get to meet them or did you just make them up?"

"Oh yeah, of course." Adrianna gave him a very fake smile. "Sure thing, I'll introduce you to them after the meeting."

"Nice. This day keeps getting better and better." Brandyn narrowed his eyes at her. "So why the long face?"

"Why the... what do you mean?"

"You're not a very good actress, Nani." Brandyn said, fixing her with a very penetrating gaze. "Something's not quite right about that pretty smile of yours."

"I..." Adrianna swallowed and finally allowed her false smile to melt off her face. "You know, none of them are as... interesting as you. I don't know, they were the best I could do if I needed someone to talk to."

"Ahh, they'll lighten up." Brandyn said reassuringly. "I'll make sure that they do. he stood back up. "As long as I finish off this unpacking, that is. Boring!"

"I'll say." Adrianna cracked a small but very genuine smile as she stood up to continue to help. "Oh my!" she exclaimed after opening the closest box. "I'm sorry." her face went scarlet as she immediately shut it.

"Ahh discovered the skivvies box, have you?" Brandyn chortled as he sauntered over and picked it up. "I can unpack that one just fine by myself." he added as he tossed it into the open doorway to his bedroom. "Not that I'm ashamed of my skivvies of course."

"Why would you be ashamed of them?" Adrianna peeked inside the next box she opened and was relieved to see it full of clean shirts.

"Ahh yeah, I guess it's not shameful as much as awkward. Don't want everyone to know how big they are." Brandyn grinned cheekily at her.

"Why would that matter?" Adrianna asked, eyebrow raised.

"Oh nothing." he said hastily just before clearing his throat rather loudly. "Sorry, I just say the first thing that pops into my head sometimes... but don't worry about it." Adrianna noticed his cheeks go slightly pink before he turned away.

"So are you sure you want to go to the village meeting?" Adrianna asked him as she began putting the food he'd brought along into cupboards.

"Well if I'm going to be living here, I need to meet everyone and learn what it's like to live here." Brandyn replied with a shrug. "Even if the chief is long winded at times."

"You don't know the half of it." the Haddock girl grumbled.

There was a long pause as the teenagers continued to put things away and unpack the contents of the boxes Brandyn had brought along. Adrianna found herself feeling extremely uncomfortable after a few seconds. Silence was usually a bad sign when she was spending time with a friend. She was happiest when discussions moved fluidly from one topic to the next but to not have anything to say... now that was uncomfortable. But just as she was about to make an excuse to head up to the Great Hall a bit early, Brandyn turned and spoke to her.

"Nice headband."

Adrianna looked up. Brandyn was leaning against the door frame and staring at her with a smile on his face. She felt heat rise to her face.

"Thanks."

Brandyn's eyebrows furrowed. "How come you stopped wearing flowers?"

"What?"

"Flowers. In your hair. You used to wear them. What happened?" Brandyn's eyes refused to waver as he stared at her.

"That was a long time ago." Adrianna straightened her headband. "Why are you asking this now?"

"Well when we visit each other, you've always got your hair up so of course you're not going to have a flower in it. It'd blow away." Brandyn furrowed his brow. "I didn't realize you stopped wearing them altogether."

"Well... that was kid stuff." Adrianna shrugged, irritated with her face at retaining its heat. "Figured I might as well dress like people my age."

"The headband looks nice." Brandyn reached forward and tucked a few flyaway strands of hair behind her ear. Adrianna felt her knees weaken slightly. "Red suits you." his eyes flitted to her shirt. "Green too. You look a lot more grown up."

"I probably look like a Snoggletog tree." Adrianna quipped with a half smile.

"Nah, you'd have to be wearing loads of colorful jewelry to look like that." Brandyn straightened up again. "So what time is this meeting?"

"Probably soon." Adrianna said, straightening her headband and running her fingers through her hair. "We should go. Well I mean we as in both of us, I mean, we don't have to go together..."

"I would be honored to take you." Brandyn reached out and opened the front door. "After you, milady!" he mock bowed, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

Adrianna giggled and walked through the door, Brandyn following. As they walked to the Great Hall, the girl clasped her hands behind her back and listened to her friend's excited chatter with a smile. She hadn't been so excited in a long time. Her best friend finally lived within walking distance, her birthday was coming up, and she was finally accepted by her peers. Life was definitely...

Her eyes locked onto a head of wavy blond hair walking just ahead of them. Her stomach lurched and her heart felt suddenly constricted. She gritted her teeth and looked up at Brandyn, who didn't seem to notice her change of expression. When she finally looked ahead again, the blond head had disappeared into the crowd of Berkians filing into the Great Hall.

Yes, life was definitely improving but it was far from perfect.

Inga Jorgenson absolutely hated village meetings. They weren't very frequent but every single one was so boring, she could barely keep her eyes open. Putting her cheek on her fist and her elbow on the windowsill of a small window, she stared outside at a cluster of Terrible Terrors who were fighting over a loaf of bread they had undoubtedly pilfered from someone's food storage. Something about working together as a village to fix a few issues in public buildings. Talking about community. Inga could practically recite Hiccup's speeches as if she herself had written them. The hot Hall was beginning to make her feel lightheaded. The red Terror had the bread, a yellow one pounced on it, a green one used the commotion to sneak the bread away from the other two, they noticed and leaped on him. On and on it went, Hiccup's droning voice in the background, a few nods and words of assent from the crowd. Oh why was she now required to attend these now that she was older than ten? Ten wasn't nearly old enough to benefit from any of this. And eleven, Inga reasoned, was scarcely more than ten. She watched jealously as a few nine-year-olds snatched the bread from the Terrors and hurried away, their gales of laughter echoing in Inga's ears. Two years ago, she'd have been among them.

Stupid meetings.

The Jorgenson girl might have fallen asleep had Hiccup not changed topics the moment her eyes fluttered shut.

"We could chalk the damage at Mulch and Bucket's barn to some unruly dragons and the storm that blew in last week except the same damage seems to have happened at Hoark's." Hiccup was saying in a clear, crisp voice devoid of its frequently sarcastic tone. "I don't know what that means, exactly, but if anyone has any questions, concerns, or information, I'd like you to speak with me about it promptly. Whatever is going on is interfering with these families' lives and they need to get back to work without having to worry about unforeseen damages." the Hooligan chief concluded.

Damages? What was this about? Inga scanned the crowd with her eyes and realized with a jolt that a lot of them seemed concerned about the chief's most recent words. What sort of damages was Hiccup talking about?

The meeting ended soon after that and Inga immediately hopped out of her chair the moment "you're dismissed" escaped Hiccup's throat.

"I don't know, Heather," her father was saying, "I went by Hoark's the day before his shop was damaged and everything looked fine. And if dragons did it, there would have been scorch marks."

"You don't think someone actually destroyed these buildings intentionally, do you?" Heather asked, looking concerned as she glanced around at her fellow Berkians.

"I'm not saying anything. I'd have thought the Thorston twins might have had something to do with it but they always get caught." Snotlout said grimly. "Maybe it was our twins."

"Vidar and Dustin were among the first people to help Hoark clean up." Heather reminded him. "Not exactly something one does after one has caused the damage in the first place."

"Guess we'll just have to keep an eye out." Snotlout said as he allowed Heather out of the door ahead of him.

Inga hung back for a while, watching her fellow Hooligans leaving the Great Hall and talking in hushed tones. She furrowed her brow. She didn't like it when her people were this worried.

As she looked around, she was slightly alarmed to see that the only people who didn't seem to be at all concerned about the damaged property were the people close to her age. She wondered how Finn, who she had noticed nodding in agreement toward the beginning of the meeting, could be laughing and play fighting when there were real problems to address. It was like he didn't care at all about his own future tribe. And Adrianna, she was too busy talking to a tall, handsome teenager Inga had never seen before. Even the Thorston twins looked concerned so why didn't the youth care at all that there was a chance their tribe was being destroyed from the inside?

Well she cared. And she was going to get to the bottom of this. She was clever. She was sneaky. She was a Jorgenson.

And Jorgensons never back down, after all.

My sincerest apologies to everyone who thought this would be up on the 2nd instead of today. Due to personal issues (including a lot of arguing between authors), this story already has a lot of setbacks. I can tell you that right away. Updates will be sporadic at best but hopefully more frequent since I'll be doing most of the writing for this one (sorry about that).

Any notes of encouragement to EmmerzK should be sent to her directly because she should be credited for coming up with the idea, if not writing very much of the story. Hopefully my co-author for Fearless Fables, amyboomerang, will step in a bit more.

Special thanks to the TV series Hana Yori Dango, of which I've only seen one episode so far, for helping me come up with ideas when EmmerzK decided to take her writing break.

Don't forget to review!

~KateMarie999

P.S. Due to Em's busy schedule, I may need a few people who are willing to write a scene or two. PM me and we'll talk. And if the workload ends up being too much for me, I may need to bring a new writer on board so if you'd like to be involved, like I said, PM me or contact me on deviantart or tumblr (same username as here).